Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 20:15
Cold and Colder. . .
I'm not looking forward to next weekend. Already the weather forecasters are saying the 'high' temperature for Saturday and Sunday will be 2 or 3 degrees with a 30 degree below zero windchill.
Drat those long-range forecasts, anyway. You might know that forecasting has become so sophisticated that they are fairly accurate even almost a week out, at least as far as temperatures are concerned. In this case, perhaps ignorance is bliss.
It was bad enough this morning with a 10 degree below zero windchill. And that was this morning. Not the high for the day as they are predicting for this weekend.
I am beginning to think that maybe I am turning wimpy. Maybe I have gotten too accustomed to warmer winters. Maybe I have grown secretly complacent about global warming because it makes the winters easier to deal with, from a temperature perspective, anyway.
Then again, the weather forecaster on the local station this morning said that 3 years ago at the end of January in 2004, we had low temperatures in the 20s below zero and highs during the day of 5 below zero. So it hasn't been all that long since we've had some normal winter temperatures around here.
As I recall, 2004 was a year when we had some decent snowfall, too. Not as much as we would have expected had it snowed all winter long, but still, decent snowfall. That was the year it didn't snow much in the late fall or early winter but did, indeed, start snowing in February and March. That was the year that when Randy went the the annual "ice fishing weekend" with the guys at his Mom and Dad's, it snowed a foot of heavy, wet snow, and when I drove the tractor out of the barn to push snow out of the driveway, the chain came off the tire and there I sat.
There was no way I was going to get the chain back on myself, seeing as each chain weighs about 200 pounds. I had to get to church to help set up for a church dinner, so I shoveled the upper driveway by hand.
By that time, though, when it snowed a heavy, wet snow at the end of February, it was no longer cold.
We don't have much snow on the ground this year. Only a couple of inches of fluffy snow. The forecast says it will snow a little more fluffy snow this week (too cold to get much snow with moisture in it), and then the wind will kick up even more so that by this weekend, not only will it be cold, but also what little snow there is will be blowing around and drifting.
On the other hand, I don't know what I can expect. It *is* winter, after all. And next summer when it is 106 degrees, I will wish that we had some of this cold air to mix in with it. Next summer when it is 106 degrees, I will be fantasizing about shivering on a cold January day.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Monday, January 29, 2007, 15:16
Ahhhhh. . . .
After three weeks of temperatures mostly close to 0 at night, if not below 0, or temperatures at night with below 0 windchills, and temperatures during the day in the teens or 20 degrees, the sun was shining Friday and the temperature warmed up to 34 degrees.
34 degrees!
It felt downright balmy outside. Every time I went out, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. No more fingers so cold they hurt. No more skin being sliced off my face by a sharp wind. No more legs so cold I wasn't really sure if they were functioning, even though I kept moving forward.
Lucky for me the weather *was* warm on Friday. Earlier in the week, I had made an appointment to have the windshield changed on my truck. A crack ran up from the bottom, made a 90 degree turn and was headed for the opposite side of the windshield.
The man who was going to change it was coming out to the house. At first we thought we would have to put the truck inside. I called our friend with the machine shop, and he said we could use his shop if we wanted. Friday morning the man who was going to change the windshield called and said it was warm enough outside so he could just do in the driveway. The adhesive they use nowadays sets up just fine even in fairly cold weather, he said.
I stood outside, basking in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth, and talked to the man who was changing the windshield.
Unfortunately, our day of warm, sunny, balmy weather did just that --it only lasted a day.
Saturday morning it started snowing. Not much for heavy snow. But it was snowing. And as the day wore on Saturday, the temperature began to drop again. The high temp for the day was 20 degrees at 8 a.m.
It was all downhill from there. By afternoon, the temperature was down to 6 degrees and was still moving downward. Occasional snow showers kept blowing through, too.
Sunday morning, the day of our Meatball Dinner at church, the temperature was 4 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The sun came out later on, but with a wind out of the north, the air still felt like it was trying to slice the skin off my face.
The forecast for the week is that fairly fast "disturbances" will move through, causing snow flurries and snow showers. Then toward the weekend, another Arctic front will arrive, and next weekend, the forecasters say the temperature will struggle to reach 3 or 4 degrees in the afternoon.
So, that probably means our high-speed Internet will continue to work on and off. The high-speed, we have noticed, does not particularly care for cold weather. Then it will be a matter of switching back and forth to dial-up when necessary [sigh].
I wish the nice weather had lasted for a couple more days. Then again, the more Arctic cold fronts that move through now, the closer it brings us to spring!
Dinner -- The Meatball Dinner went quite well. I was surprised that people came out in the cold, but they did. All together, we served over 100 people. We made meatballs on Saturday -- 40 pounds of them. And we peeled 20 pounds of potatoes. The cheesecake for dessert on Sunday was a big hit with pretty much everyone.
Icicles -- in spite of the very cold weather and not much sunshine, on those few days when the sun was shining, snow melted off the roof of the barn and dripped onto the plum tree next to the barn.
The air was so cold that the water droplets froze on contact, leaving ice sculptures on the tree. I noticed the icicles one evening as I crawled through the fence just at sunset after walking around the hayfield with Pixie and Charlie. As I looked up at the icicles, the blush-pink glow of the setting sun was reflected in the ice. Unfortunately, the digital camera was unable to pick up the sunset's pale reflected color.
Even though technology has become far advanced over the last 100 years, it is interesting to note that digital cameras still cannot pick up everything that the human eye can see. Sometimes I think we tend to believe that computer/digital technology is better, faster, smarter than people. The best "computer" ever invented sits right on top of your shoulders!
Snowflake-- Our little black kitten is not so 'little' anymore! One evening I had fluffed the quilts on the couch and was getting ready to fold them again. Snowflake decided the warm Afghan was the perfect place to stretch out for a nap.
She also likes to sit on Randy's shoulder when he is working on the computer (she does this to me, too, but it's difficult to take pictures of myself). Amazingly enough, even though she has claws she is pretty good at not digging them in too much in getting up to our shoulders. And she likes to sit on Randy's shoulders when he reads the newspaper. .
Charlie -- Our springer finished his antibiotic on Friday for the intestinal ailment. He is feeling much better. Thank goodness.
LeAnn R. Ralph
